If you can't make it along to the seminar in our school on Monday 10th, don't worry - Joseph will be delivering a seminar in Dublin West Education Centre on the evening of Wednesday 12th October from 7 to 9pm on the topic of Parenting Children for Success at School - please see flyer below.

Joseph Driessen is the director of Education Answers, an International Educational Consultancy based in New Zealand, specialising in the professional development of teachers and parents. Joseph focuses his research on international best teaching and parenting practices, and is much in demand as a speaker, facilitator and education consultant.

We have been chosen by Dublin West Education Centre to be gifted this seminar and we really hope to see lots of parents avail of this opportunity.

The seminar will start with a talk by Joseph and conclude with a question and answer session so parents can have their concerns and questions addressed.

We can choose the focus for the seminar and I am interested in your preferences for this. Please see the choices below submit your preference before 12pm on Tuesday 4th October. The topic with the most nominations will be chosen.

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· Leadership skills which promote learning · Parent-child relationships as the key to learning success · Mothers’ and Fathers’ different approaches to leadership · The importance of nurturing and of setting boundaries · Why many boys and girls need a structured household · How to activate motivation by goal setting · Supporting your child to become an independent learner · Understanding key differences between boys and girls · Coaching rather than correcting · Setting boundaries without stress · Things to do to support your child at school

Whatever topic is chosen, I hope that this seminar will be interesting and useful and I look forward to seeing lots of you there.Kind regards,Caitriona Hand,Principal.

What seminar topic would be best?

Choose your preferred topic: *

Leadership skills which promote learningParent-child relationships as the key to learning successMothers' and fathers' different approaches to leadershipThe importance of nurturing and of setting boundariesWhy many boys and girls need a structured householdHow to activate motivation by goal settingSupporting your child to become an independent learnerUnderstanding key differences between boys and girlsCoaching rather than correctingSetting boundaries without stressThings to do to support your child at school

Apart from all the reasons listed above, you will be able to teach your children chess!! That's wonderful. While there are chess programs in many Dublin schools, it can be difficult for children to learn a game like chess in a group setting. Nothing compares to 1 on 1 teaching, especially between child and parent.Finally, its an opportunity for you! A chance to get out of the house, to socialize, to meet new people and to learn something new! You might find you fall in love with the game like so many others.

Why is this a great course for me?

The course is fun, dynamic and designed specifically for parents.

The first few lessons of the course are designed to teach parents the basics of chess.

You don't need to be a great chess player to be a great chess teacher!!!

We will then cover methods for introducing young children to chess.

The most important thing is that your child is interested. We will show you a few little tricks to help your child fall in love with the game!!

We'll then cover how to improve at chess and when to start going to a chess club.

We'll help you find a chess club near you and get you set up and ready to go.

Lessons are fun, entertaining and always a good night out.

If you are interested or have any questions please email me at millerjr@tcd.ie.

Every year around this time, we remind you that our enrolment policy is strictly first-come-first-served. Children who have a brother or sister already in the school are NOT prioritised for enrolment. If you have a baby, toddler or pre-schooler who is not already pre-enroled for our school, please complete a pre-enrolment form immediately.

We have pre-enrolments all the way to 2021 already and we are reaching the point for Junior Infants 2017 at which the cut-off was made last year. We did manage to accommodate every child holding out for a mainstream place in our school this year, though it took until this week to get to the end of some of the waiting lists.

If you are not sure whether you have completed a pre-enrolment form already, feel free to complete another one. If we get multiple applications in relation to the same child, we will use the date of the first application in determining the order of our list. thus ensuring the child is higher up the pre-enrolment list.

Please note that children already in the school are entitled to that school place as long as they continue to attend school. There is no need to complete an application for children already in the school.​All the best,Caitriona Hand, Principal, and Jenna Boland, Enrolment Officer.

Our teachers and SNAs are beginning to plan some great themed weeks for the year ahead. So far, we are thinking of the following:

Healthy Living Week in October

Book Week, combined with Mother Language Week, in November, while Scholastic Book Fair visits the school

Winter Concert in December

STEM Week in January

Friendship Week in February

Seachtain na Gaeilge in March

Autism Awareness Week in April

Family Fun Day in May

Active Schools Week and Sports Day in June

Phew! It looks like a busy year ahead!

We know that some parents had great ideas for developing and improving some of the events we have held previously and would like to help out in organising and running them. Please let us know if you have ideas to suggest and assistance to offer. We would love to work together on these projects.

There will, of course, be other events and activities taking place, such as our clothes collections, the first of which is planned for November, and our calendar, which goes on sale in December.

As well as developing our Caring School approach this year, we would love to develop a Healthy Living focus. We already have a few projects started, such as Playworx in the yard, where our 4th class pupils organise games for the children to play.

Also, our Student Council are leading the children of the school in joining forces with the parents to campaign for a Citywest Educate Together Second Level School, which is badly needed in the area in the next three years.

Here's to a great school year! As the old Irish proverb goes, as scath a cheile a mhaireann na ndaoine - together, we can achieve great things!

As you may know, last year we made great strides in the development of our teaching and learning about belief systems and other cultures. We began to explore a thematic approach to our learning about world faiths and also established a programme that allows every class in the school to visit a place of worship, or speak with a leader of a particular belief system each year.

This year, we are looking to broaden our engagement with belief systems, and international cultures more generally.

Food is a central part of many celebrations, and we would love to use this as another window into world cultures. If you have a dish that you cook in celebration of a particular festival, or at a particular time of year, maybe you could come in and share it with a class?

We are looking for cooks who could either

cook a dish in advance, and then share it with a class, talking about the significance of the dish in connection with a particular festival, or

if the recipe is simple enough, perhaps cook the dish WITH the class, allowing them to gain an even deeper appreciation of the festival

Some festivals that might lend themselves to a food-related lesson include:

Eid ul Adha (passed this year, but please let us know if you would be interested for next year)

Sukkot

Diwali

Guru Nanek's Birthday

The Winter Solstice

Christmas

St. Brigid's Day

Chinese New Year

Nirvana Day

Fairtrade Fortnight

Easter

Vaisakhi

Passover

Bealtaine

Ramadan

World Humanist Day

*Please note that these are just some examples - if you have any other dates that are culturally significant, we would love to hear from you!

Please complete the form below if you think you could get involved in this new initiative.

Food for Festivals

We would like to put together a display that communicates the importance of family in our school, and the sense of family that we all feel here.We would LOVE to have a picture of your family to add to this display! If you have a standard sized photo of your family, that you would like to contribute to this display, please leave it with Nicola in the office. Please note that we will not be able to return this photo to you.

While our junior classes are full for this school year, we do have some places remaining in our higher classes - 2nd, 3rd and 4th classes. Pre-enrol online or call into the school office for more information.